The God and The Monk
The sun had just reached its peak in the sky over the country of Bosco, casting bright light and heat over the continent that was in it's winter months. Outside the doors of one of its famous hot springs Quinn Seiryu, a young independent mage, was preparing to warm himself in the springs. After traveling for several weeks between towns he was happy to rest for some time, and even more happy to find someone whom might give him more human interaction than the literal voice of a god in the back of his head. Making his way into the hot spring his eyes were drawn to a bald man peeking through a whole between the male and female baths. "Hey!" Reifune being the young perverted wandering mage that he was, had made it a point to capitalize on his current stay in Bosco by visiting the hot springs that were rumored to be frequented by women of both young and old, during this time of the year. Perchance, it would be great material for the erotic novel that he was writing or perhaps, it was all a bunch of baloney that he told himself to ensure that he does not feel bad for peeping. With the sun over his head, a brilliant light was reflected off his clean shaved bald head, in an almost comical manner. As he peeped through the hole in the wall, he was greeted with the inquisitive tone of voice from a strange man. He removed his focus from the women, sighing and turned towards the man; giving him a nasty look. "What do you want, Mr. White Knight? Come to tell me how it is wrong for a man of my stature to peek and enjoy the neat pleasures of life?" he continued to turn away from the man and look back into the peeping hole. Quinn was caught a bit off guard by the man, now named Reifune's response. He brushed off the nasty look but couldn't help but stare a bit as the man's bald head seemed to glow with the bright sunlight. "Well, yeah actually that's exactly what I was gonna do. Or is your Monk outfit just used to try to pick up girls? If so it's a little weird." Quinn's retort irked Reifune greatly. With visible annoyance on his face, he once again turned to Quinn, as he further added, "What kind of a degenerate pervert do you think I am, brat? I am the infamous Wandering Monk from the Silver Mountains! This is simply research for my next piece of magnificent art. What do you understand about sophisticated writing, eh?" His mocking mannerism further cemented his dislike for the self-righteous male with boyish looks. It was becoming obvious that Quinn was getting under the man's skin. When Reifune named himself as the "Infamous Wandering Mage" and had to think for moment if he had heard such a name before. "Wait. Are you the guy who wrote that really popular novel about perverts?" "About perverts? What an uncultured mind! I specifically talked about resurfacing of the repressed in my work. The dark inner desires that only exist in the Id but are repressed by the Ego; an expression of love that defies social acceptance!" Reifune crossed his arms, explaining his work. In his mind, his refined taste was truly beyond the grasp of the young male's mind that had yet to be developed, after all, a work like his was an acquired taste akin to wine. "Yes the man gawking at naked women is calling me uncultured." Retorted the younger man as she smirked slightly. He thought back to a time when he picked up what he thought was one of this man's books while traveling. "I think I read part of one of your books at one time. Didn't it amount to famous people getting caught in affairs? Not really "sophisticated" as you say." "Oh? Throwing shade are we, boy? What is your name?" Reifune questioned. Completely turning to Quinn, Reifune grabbed onto his shakujō that he had placed learning against the wall and slammed it onto the ground, creating a small dent. "You certainly have ruined my mood for research, kid." "You started it after calling me uncultured." Quinn watched the man fully turn to him and felt his body tense every so slightly, waiting for the next move. "Quinn Seiryu. And yours?" "Rei...Reifune but feel free to call me the handsome Wandering Monk!" he loudly announced. While his flamboyant actions and words would lead one to believe that he was just a knucklehead, Reifune was after all, a monk nonetheless. Patience came naturally to him unlike others. He picked up his shakujō, resting it against his shoulder and began to walk away from Quinn. "You aren't fighting anyone, kid. At least not here. Only young, hot blood boils ever so carelessly. Think off all the commotion your fighting instincts can bring about. Follow me. Since you seem have made up your mind about teaching this pervert a lesson", he continued to walk away from the young male, turning his back on Quinn. His careless stride made it quite evident that he did not think much of the boy disturbing his research. Again, Quinn was caught off guard by the "Handsome Monk's" relaxed attitude. It made him curious, as he was always looking for ways to better himself and always felt stressed by it. If anything the way the man talked to him made him feel sorry. Following he relaxed a but as he didn't sense a lot anger from the man, just boredom. "Where are we going?" Reifune continued to walk north, heading in the direction of a nearby open field; ignoring the words of the male, he chose to stride without answering. Patience was virtue and he was unsure as to what the man really wanted and why was he even going as far as to follow a total stranger just because they were peeping. This walk continued for about a few minutes before coming to an abrupt halt. Reifune slightly turned his neck, looking at Quinn, "Keeping up?" Quinn had a similar train of thought as Reifune as he followed the Monk. Why was he going through this simply for the man's peeping. He could hear the voice in the back of his mind and continued to ignore it. His stride matched the man's but kept a few steps back as he stopped when he did. "Yeah I am. Can you keep up with me?" He asked. Whether from some prior stress or finally having had enough of the voice in his head he let his magic aura explode around him. He whole body tensed as he jumped forward at the man and threw his leg up in a roundhouse kick aiming for the man's head. Reifune's heightened perception and battle senses allowed him to detect and predict the incoming melee attack, using his already superior speed, he spun around his shakujō, as he let out a smirk and promptly positioned his staff in line of his assailant's kick, with the circle of the shakujō perfectly aligned to intercept and catch Quinn's leg. His martial skill for trapping shined as he simultaneously went for a quick trap sweep; something his opponent's action made incredibly easy for him to do. "Too young, too inexperienced!" Quinn grunted as his leg was swept from under him, his back hitting the ground with a loud thud. Pulling his leg free of the shakujō he jumped back up and positioned himself in a fighting stance. Eyeing his opponent he figured he couldn't attack recklessly. Keeping his hands up he jolted toward his opponent, bringing his leg up once again, this time keeping his knee higher to aim for his opponent head again, only to feint the head kick and shoot his foot towards Reifune's stomach. "Try this." Reifune grinned, withdrawing his staff in a quick jolt, he extended his right palm as he stretched out his legs and waited for his opponent to strike back. As soon as he saw his opponent charging at him, he retaliated by crouching down to a lower height and rotating while extending his staff, which would result in either a clean sweep with an extended range or a low strike to the shin of his enemy. Focusing some of his magic power into his foot, he further strengthened his own footing as he rotated about. "Sure!" Using his own knowledge of martial arts, Quinn shifted his stance and brought down his kicking leg while lifting his hand above his head and vaulting forward. Throwing his hands down onto the ground, one hand touching the ground and the other grabbing the staff as he cartwheeled over the strike, landing facing Reifune while holding the end of the staff. "Took me a good couple months to get that down." Reifune smirked at the stupidity of the inexperienced lad, who was seemingly more used to utilizing flashy moves than practical ones. As Reifune was still in motion and Quinn barely managed to stabilize his landing, his hasty wish to catch the staff that was still in motion would bring about his own downfall; not by the utilization of any fancy move but simply due to the virtue of inertia. Catching an object moving at high speeds, without a stable footing ensured that he would be imbued with inertia of motion himself; further potentially ruining his sense of balance. However, that was not all. As his staff was caught and he was still in motion, he spun around with his already stretched out palm, performing a revolving palm strike aimed to smash his opponent's nose. Quinn felt his eyes widen as he saw the palm strike coming towards his face. His eyes flashed golden as he utilized his unique magical aura. Coating his arm in ethernano to boost his defenses, he covered his face from the blow. Releasing the staff as it connected he skidded a few feet away on his side. Taking a breath he stood up and looked at Reifune. "I guess direct combat isn't going to work.is it?" Reifune looked at the boy, almost amused by his quick reaction and aura, as he activated his own aura; soon enough, his entire body was shrouded in a navy, soft aura; which had a flow similar to that of water. He coated his finger tips with ethernano and gripped onto his shakujō tighter than before. With one of his arm, he extended his shakujō right at Quinn's face, as a magic circle appeared out of nowhere at the tip of his shakujō; for it was his staff magic. The rings began to vibrate as a blast of vibrational magic was released at speeds faster than the speed of sound in air from his staff, aimed at Quinn's face. "You still have a long way to go, kid!" Category:Role-Plays